Ron Dungan/KJZZ
A sprinkler in the town of Queen Creek.
Queen Creek draws on over 2,000 acre feet of Colorado River water To supplement the groundwater supply.
This move will help the community grow from an agricultural city to a residential area.
It took Queen Creek years to negotiate the $24 million deal.
Once the agreement was signed, the town would take advantage of several pre-built benefits of the border Central Arizona project’s canal and irrigation system.
Against the backdrop of city park sprinklers releasing some of the water, Paul Gardner, the town’s water resource overseer, spoke about infrastructure and why city planners worked so hard for what seems like a small amount of water.
“But we are so good at recycling water here in the Valley that over the next 100 years that recycling will increase that water volume to 365,000 acre-feet,” he said.
The town said it was working to secure additional water supplies.
Mayor Julia Wheatley said the sale negotiations were important to the town’s future.
“As a town, we made a strategic decision to reduce our reliance on groundwater, not because we had to, but because we knew it was the right thing to do,” she said.
